It is known in the manufacture of patterned pile fabric to place all non-patterned pile threads under a needle moving in alternating directions thereby to bind or tie them into a stationary filling or warp. The knitted pile thread to be patterned is selected by a patterning device and is placed under the adjacent needle and, accordingly, laid across the pile sinkers and is tied off in the adjoining wale, between the needle and the sinker stitch and in the following row of stitches, again in the same manner, in the first wale. The patterned pile threads arrive at the stitch-forming station via a multiple pile thread guide, the thread exit openings of which are arranged in vertically spaced relationship one to the other. The patterning pile thread is selected by a thread selecting sinker movable to each vertical position of the thread exit openings and movable from a position above the needle to below the needle via a pin comb upon which it is mounted and positioned. The thread selecting sinker and the multiple pile thread guide are both moved below the needle which causes the patterning pile thread to be placed under the needle for the purpose of being tied.
The goods produced by this known patterning apparatus have disadvantages since all patterning pile threads are bound only once by the warp thread and the binding is situated on the pile side of the fabric. As a result, the rubber coating which is applied on the backside of the fabric does not reach the binding location uniformly and, therefore, individual strands of the pile thread, or entire pile loops, when cut open, can be easily pulled out.
To eliminate these disadvantages, a device has been suggested which comprises a multiple pile thread guide where the thread exit openings are disposed in spaced relationship in a horizontal plane; that is, substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the needle. These guides are provided with vertically movable thread selecting sinkers which are movable to the selected position in the horizontal plane. Such a device makes it possible to place the patterning pile thread into the needle hook and thereby to be able to reliably tie the pile loop on the back side of the fabric. However, the patterning apparatus used for positioning thread selecting sinkers for the first mentioned device cannot be used for the last described device as such apparatus permits only a pattern depending control of the vertical position of the thread selecting sinker while the latter requires selected horizontal placement of the sinker.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a reliable selection of the patterning pile threads from horizontally spaced exit openings of multiple thread guides by employing simple measures.
The object of the invention is to provide a patterning device which will permit, by employing economical, and simple technical procedures, a pattern-depending coordination of the thread selecting sinker with the thread exit openings of the multiple pile thread guide, in which the openings are situated in a horizontal plane, and the insertion of the patterning pile thread into the hooks of the needle.
To this end and in accordance with the invention, the selecting sinkers are supported by a vertically movable bar which extends longitudinally of the knitting machine and laterally of the path of travel of the needles. The sinkers are pivotally connected to the bar approximately at the centers of the sinkers, and are rotatable about their pivotal connection so that their upper ends can be laterally (forwardly and rearwardly) placed in the path of pattern spacers or pattern elements which are adjustable according to the pattern, and so that the other operating ends of the sinkers can be adjusted selectively to one thread exit opening of the multiple pile thread guide. The thread selecting sinkers are provided with means cooperating with controllable stop members to arrest the thread selecting sinkers in their respective swing position and in accordance with the invention such controllable stop members are shared in common by all thread selecting sinkers.
The controllable arresting or stop members in the embodiment of the invention to be described, cooperate preferably with a plurality of recesses, provided on the upper surfaces or edges of the thread selecting sinkers and comprise a single stopping strip, ledge or bar which is movably affixed to the thread selecting sinker supporting bar and is operated via levers or the like by a cam mounted upon the cam shaft of the knitting machine.
A feature of the invention provides that each thread selecting sinker may be moved with and against the action of a leaf spring arranged on a fixed bar which bar is swingable about its axis which extends parallel to the traverse of the needles and which is also operable via levers or the like with the cam supported on the cam shaft of the knitting machine.
In an embodiment of the invention, the pattern spacers may be provided on a pattern carrier which is rotatable to place the spacers in position adjacent the upper ends of the thread selecting sinkers and is movable forwardly in the longitudinal direction of the needles to actuate the sinkers and rearwardly to withdraw the spacers from the actuating position. The thread selecting sinkers, which are swiveled on the sinker support bar and under the influence of leaf springs, thus may cooperate with the movable pattern carrier to be moved thereby and there against. It is contemplated in this embodiment of the invention that the pattern carrier comprises, for example, a Jacquard cylinder carried between two arms which are moved via a cam on the cam shaft of the knitting machine.
In this last respect, however, it is also possible to provide the pattern spacers on a carrier movable only in the vertical direction, a rail being disposed adjacent the upper ends of the all thread selecting sinkers which rail is connected, via a connecting rod or the like, to a cam on the cam shaft, in a manner whereby all thread selecting sinkers under the influence of the rail, against the action of the leaf springs, can be withdrawn from the pattern spacers during the movement of the carrier.
The invention also contemplates that the pattern spacers may form a part of a pattern carrier movable only in the longitudinal direction of the needles.
In accordance with these last features of the invention, the pattern spacers may be formed as steps on an offset pin movable via a conventional Jacquard pattern-making device or the like.
Thus, the invention provides apparatus which reliably selects respective patterning pile threads as well as reliably tying the same into the fabric .